Hello Everyone!
It is almost the end of January now (which is ridiculous and I don’t know where the time has gone), but that of course means it is time for another book haul. I didn’t do a book haul at the end of December because of the way we do Christmas in our family and my new years blog post schedule; it just wouldn’t fit in nicely, so I have decided to combine them and do a December and January book haul now! That means there are a fair few books here because I have combined the 2 months, but I am hoping that my book hauls in the future will be a little smaller because I am trying to read the books I already have before I start buying other books. We’ll see how that goes, but I have already started out fairly strong. Most of the books on this list were gifts or were bought with Christmas money. That’s enough chat though, let’s get into the books.
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
The first book I got in December was ‘Moxie’ which I have been wanting since I first heard about it on Booktube! It is a kick-ass feminist novel and I can’t wait to read it! One of my best friends gave it to me as a birthday present and it will definitely be one of the first books I read after I have finished my Shadowhunters re-read!
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33163378-moxie?ac=1&from_search=true
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
‘The Nowhere Girls’ is another feminist novel that my friend gave me for my birthday! This is another one that I have been wanting for ages, but just never got around to picking it up. I finally have both ‘The Nowhere Girls’ and ‘Moxie’ though thanks to my friend and I can’t wait to read them. They also look really good together because they have very similar colour schemes, so that’s even better!
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28096541-the-nowhere-girls?ac=1&from_search=true
Souls Screamers series by Rachel Vincent (first 4 books)
This is a series that I read years ago back when I first started secondary school. I loved it, but at the time I was only taking books out from the library because I hadn’t really discovered the book community yet and didn’t have my own income to buy books with. Of course you don’t have to own every book you’ve read and I actually advise that you don’t, but I am something of a collector and I did really love these books and would love to re-read them someday, so I asked for them for Christmas and I got them! I received the first 4 books in the series (I think there are 7), which are ‘My Soul to Take’, ‘My Soul to Save’, ‘My Soul to Keep’ and ‘My Soul to Steal’. This book series is about a girl who finds out that she is a banshee. I don’t really want to say much more than that because i think that ruins some of the surprise, but it is such a fantastic series full of mythology and concepts that I have never seen written about before and yet no one talks about them. I want everyone to read these books and I highly encourage you to pick them up!
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6315602-my-soul-to-take?ac=1&from_search=true
The Sacrifice Box by Martin Stewart
The next two books are from one of my other best friends and they are a combination between a birthday and a Christmas gift. 2018 has been a bit hectic for all of us, so we didn’t get a chance to see each other for my birthday or for Christmas, but we met up between Christmas and new years and exchanged gifts as a sort of birthday and Christmas celebration all in one (because her birthday is close to Christmas too). The first book she gave me is ‘The Sacrifice Box’ by Martin Stewart. I haven’t heard anyone talking about this book, but I have seen it at my local bookshop so many times and it catches my attention every time I go in. It has a beautiful cover and an intriguing synopsis, so I asked for it since I had seen it so many times.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30048202-the-sacrifice-box?ac=1&from_search=true
Warcross by Marie Lu
The second book she gave me is ‘Warcross’ by Marie Lu, which is a much more well known book, so i am sure you’ve all heard of it. Warcross is a sought of sci-fi, dystopian novel about virtual reality, which I actually quite enjoy. I get a lot of James Dashner vibes from this book and I love his books, so hopefully this will live up to my expectations. I have heard so much about all of Marie Lu’s books and especially Warcross, so my expectations are high, but I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41014903-warcross?ac=1&from_search=true
The Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke
We’re now moving into the section of the haul where I bought a load of books with my Christmas and Birthday money, but we are still in December because I am one of those people that likes to take advantage of those end of year sales! The first books I picked up was ‘The Inkheart trilogy’ by Cornelia Funke. These were books that I remember my mum reading to my sister and I as bedtime stories when we were younger and I adored them! We do only have the books in e-book form though, which I’m not a huge fan of for day to day, so I wanted to get the physical copies both so that I can re-read them without worrying about my battery dying or whether I’m allowed to use technology (we aren’t at school) and to satisfy my need to own and collect every book I read! 😂
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3334563-the-inkheart-trilogy?ac=1&from_search=true
The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson
I also picked up ‘The Wren Hunt’ by Mary Watson, which is another one of those books that I have seen around my local bookshop almost every time I go in there and have not been buying for a while, so I decided to pick it up. it is a fantasy book (and we all know how much I love fantasy) and I also believe it is a stand alone, which if it is, is very exciting because we almost never get fantasy stand alones. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good long fantasy series, but sometimes I just want a quick, lighter fantasy read that isn’t such a commitment.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35216519-the-wren-hunt?ac=1&from_search=true
Almost Midnight – 2 festive short stories by Rainbow Rowell
If you have been following me anywhere for a while, then you will know that one of my favourite books of all time is ‘Fangirl’ by Rainbow Rowell. I also love Carry On (an am hyped for the sequel), but I haven’t really read many other of her books. I read Eleanor and Park and I honestly wasn’t that impressed. I didn’t think it was that special and I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, which sort of put me off reading her other books, but I decided that reading some short festive stories by her was probably a good way to get me back into reading some of her other books because I’m much more likely to like these. I don’t know anything about these other than they’re festive, so i might save them for next Christmas, but I have them now, which means I’m more likely to read more of her books.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35269543-almost-midnight?ac=1&from_search=true
Sarah Knight trilogy of Self-Help Books
The next 3 books are very much a set, but they don’t have a series name, so i wasn’t sure what to call them, but I am going to talk about them all together because I bought them all at the same time and therefore don’t really have individual stories. We are also now officially in the January part of the December and January haul.
The 3 books I bought are:
- You Do You by
- The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck
- Get Your Sh*t Together
As you can see, they all have a similar theme of getting your life together and not caring what other people think, which is something I feel like I need to read about. I pride myself on being a very organised person and, as a general rule, not caring what people think, but a still struggle greatly with anxiety and still find myself not doing thing sbecause I am afraid of being judged. I want to do a whole post about this, so I won’t go into it too much here, but long story short, I felt like these could be useful to read, so I picked it up.
You Do You Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35430922-you-do-you?from_search=true
The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26200068-the-life-changing-magic-of-not-giving-a-f-ck?ac=1&from_search=true
Get Your Sh*t Together Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31111142-get-your-sh-t-together?ac=1&from_search=true
Read This If You Want To Be A Great Writer by Ross Raisin
The final book I bought this month was one that I picked up whilst I was in London. I had to go to London as part of my GCSE Photography and Art coursework (I actually went twice because I’m a bit of an overachiever like that) and one of the places we had to go was the Tate. I had actually never been to the Tate before, but I did find it quite cool. I’m not a huge fan of looking at artwork in galleries, but the architecture and the atmosphere really intrigue and inspire me. Some of my first self-portraits were taken in an art gallery and I find the space to me very creatively stimulating and calming. I of course dropped into one of the many gift shops whilst I was there and go the book ‘Read This If You Want To Be A Great Write’, which is something I absolutely want to be. It has been my dream to be a published author since I was little, so i am doing everything possible to make that dream come true now that I’m older and this book seemed like a one that I would actually find helpful.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36205146-read-this-if-you-want-to-be-a-great-writer?ac=1&from_search=true
That is the end of the book haul! It was a bit of a longer one today because of the way my schedule worked out, so congratulations if you made it to the end. Like I said at the beginning, I am trying to cut back on the amount of books I am buying this year and instead focusing on the ones I already have. If you read my anticipated releases blog post (link here: https://www.samanthadrage.co.uk/2019/01/11/anticipated-releases-2019/) then you will know that I am highly anticipating ‘King of Scars’ by Leigh Bardugo that is coming out this month, and you will also have noticed that it isn’t on this list, which is because at the time of writing this, it hasn’t yet been released. This is going out on Friday 25th and it isn’t coming out until Tuesday 29th, but don’t worry, I am going to buy it on release day and it will 100% be in my February book haul! What books did you buy this month? Have you made any resolutions to cut back on your book buying this year? I’d love to know, so leave a comment down below or come and chat to me over on my Instagram (@theoriginalbookdragon)!
Goodbye for now!
Over and Out
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